(Jennifer Brewster is living in the Republic of Korea (South) with her military
husband Matt and children Hannah, Lilly, and Margaret)

I thought I would share a little of Korean life with ya'll. I know Tim has
been here (and probably had a completely different experience since he was up
on the DMZ), but most of ya'll will probably not have any opportunity or
inclination to come here. (Although you are always welcome to visit!)

Dress:

The dress here is much more formal than in the States. Ladies walk around the
streets in nice dresses and high heels (mostly sandals or backless shoes,
because Koreans always remove their shoes before walking into a home). Men
wear dress slacks and a nice shirt. No one seems to be dressed expensively,
just neatly and well-tailored. On our second day here, Matt sent me out to
walk around and get familiar with the neighborhood. I was walking around in
khaki shorts and a sleeveless shirt, and people I passed kept eyeing me! (as
if I'm not self-conscious enough about the way I look!) Ever since I have
tried to wear a skirt or pants when I'm out.

Oh, we're in the rainy season now, but that doesn't keep anyone indoors at
all--they dress the same and walk around with umbrellas--even the smallest
children are walking around with colored miniature umbrellas!

Garbage:

Ok, I honestly didn't expect to go into culture shock over garbage, but here
it is. A few years back someone came out with a report stating that Seoul was
one of the dirtiest cities; ever since the government has been on a "green
campaign" (I just made that up--it's not an official title) We have to
recycle everything--paper boxes, plastic, aluminum, tin, glass, etc. As an
added incentive, you have to BUY garbage bags for dumping! So the less
garbage you accumulate, the less money you have to pay for bags. We also
separate food waste in a separate bucket (leftovers, scraps, fruit peels,
pits, etc.) We collect ours into a mop bucket, and every night I take it
downstairs to the parking lot, where there are large garbage cans where every
one dumps their food waste in together. It's like having a huge compost
bucket. Ok, it is quite stinky, but we're doing our part. Every Tues at noon
the recycle warden sets up a recycle center in the parking lot--we take all
our collected recyclables downstairs and separate them out.

(Ok, so we don't actually buy the garbage bags, I confess. We save grocery
bags from the commissary and dump our trash in a dumpster on post. The rule
is, every time you go on post, you have to take garbage with you.)

Anyway, the overall effect is that Seoul doesn't stink quite as much as it
could. There is still a lingering fish stench in the air, but for a city of
14 million people, it is phenomenally clean!

Traffic:

I don't even know where to begin. There are a few different factors
contributing to the mayhem here:

1. Koreans do not get a driver's license until they get a car. Consequently,
they never get to practice.

2. Koreans haven't even had cars to drive until the past few decades. All of
the sudden they had cars, roads, traffic lights, highways, etc all at once.

3. Mopeds are like pedestrians with a little more power. They don't have to
follow traffic signals or queue up like cars do (assuming that the cars do
queue up like they SHOULD!)

4. There is a whole Korean mentality that says, "I am the only one on the
road. I have somewhere to go. I must get there." They don't really seem to
recognize each other's presence. If there is physical space for their
automobile, they will drive there (whether or not it is an actual lane or
someone else got there first). If they can move somewhere without hitting
someone, they will go there (ok, they don't always follow that one--they'll
tap you if they have to). If it seems illogical to them to stop at a red
light, they won't. If they don't feel like waiting at a red light and can't
reasonably run it, they will make a u-turn and head the opposite direction
(yeah, I don't get it either).

Anyway, driving isn't all that bad, actually. You just have to stay alert and
stay out of their way while being assertive yourself.

That's all I can think of for now. I have to change a poopy diaper. Margaret
says hello to everyone!!!
--Jennifer

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